Our Bayonetta 2 Wishlist

The Wii U-exclusive sequel to Platinum Games' hit action title can reach even greater heights than the original, but only if it makes these five gameplay fixes.

Bayonetta was one of the best action games released for the last generation of consoles. Developer Platinum Games took the Devil May Cry games' creative, open combo system and added more structure, satisfying evasion and defense tactics, great enemy variety, and and an over-the-top level of camp and spectacle. But Bayonetta also had its flaws, which weakened the overall experience and kept the game as a whole from being the best in its genre. With Bayonetta 2 on the horizon, Platinum Games has a chance to address and correct the weaker points of the original game. Here are five things we hope to see improved or in (or removed from) Bayonetta 2 when it's released for the Wii U.

No More QTE Penalties and Insta-Deaths
Quick time events, or QTEs, are cinematic, context-sensitive events that occur during story scenes or combat that demand a prompt—or series of prompts—from the player. Successful execution of these prompts result in a flashy enemy finisher, or progression into the next portion of the game or scene. Bayonetta uses a variety of QTE types.

The optional QTEs that are available during combat are satisfying and rewarding entirely because they are optional. Players can opt to input the command for the QTE, or they can instead finish off the enemy however they like. In some respects, these situational QTEs feel more like a counter than a QTE, and as such they are much more enjoyable to initiate and execute.

Unfortunately, things go downhill when Bayonetta forces QTEs upon you. Some of them can kill Bayonetta outright if you input them wrong, causing an insta-death. The player's control over enemies during combat is what makes Bayonetta so satisfying. Taking control away from players, only to demand a quick but utterly critical action prompt is awkward and unfair, as all of a player's hard work and precision can be undone with one failed button-press. In a game that grades your combat performance quite strictly, and penalizes your grade severely for deaths and re-tries, this element is extremely unfair. Instant deaths, and death-penalty QTEs, need to go in Bayonetta 2.

No More Weapon Clones
Bayonetta gave players a huge number of quirky weapons to fight with, including guns attached to her heels, snake whips, demon swords, and tonfa-style RPG-launching bludgeons. A number of her weapons, however, shared move-sets. Bayonetta's shotguns, demon claws, and futuristic "bazillions" guns, all shared the same basic combos with Bayonetta's signature pistols, the Scarborough Fair. The only difference each weapons had was a unique charge attack, which was performed by pressing and holding an attack button.

That's not to say that Bayonetta didn't have a wonderfully varied weapon list—it did. Many of the weapons had radically unique moves and combos. Fighting with Bayonetta's katana was not at all like fighting with her whip, or her speedy nunchaku. The weapons that had unique move sets truly felt unique, and finding new ways to fight with them added to the creativity and freedom that made Bayonetta so fun to play. That made it all the more disappointing to notice the similarities between her other weapons. Bayonetta 2 can rectify this by giving each weapon its own unique combos and attacks.

Ditch Escort Missions
Cereza was a wonderfully cute and sweet little girl who viewed Bayonetta as a mother. And despite her free-spirited attitude, Bayonetta stepped up to the task time and time again, defending little Cereza from an onslaught of obnoxious angelic enemies.

The problem here was that escorting Cereza around wasn't fun. In truth, escorting anybody in any game is rarely fun. Bayonetta, while not particularly difficult, was demanding in its own way, and having to protect Cereza took the emphasis away from combat. Fights felt much more limited because players couldn't simply fight however they wished—they had to keep an eye on Cereza at all times. And if Cereza took a hit, the camera would annoyingly pan to her, to show the player that she was under attack, and pull attention away from whatever cool combo he or she might have been attempting.

In Platinum Games' defense, the escort missions were very lenient. The barrier protecting Cereza could take a plenty of abuse, and it regenerated too. Furthermore, the escort sections were not particularly long. A player's performance ranking was not penalized if Cereza got hit, either. But even with this leniency considered, the escort missions felt like a chore, and we would gladly see them gone in Bayonetta 2.

More Carefully Designed Enemies
The angel design in Bayonetta was fantastic. They felt genuinely alien and supernatural in appearance, which made them both frightening and exciting to fight. Some angels looked like rays, while others looked like knights, and others still looked like coiling dragons or crocodilian lions. Each one had its own personality and attacks, so evading and countering them was engaging and satisfying.

The exception was the flaming angels. During specific portions of the game, some angels were covered with a supernatural fire that could instantly damage Bayonetta if she collided with it. These flames would dissipate whenever Bayonetta entered her time-altering Witch-Time mode, and these particular enemies were perfect practice for learning the timing for this technique.

The issue here was that players were limited in what they could do to these angels outside of Witch-Time. Attacking them directly hurt Bayonetta, so players needed to bait an attack and wait for an opening to trigger Witch-Time before they could take any offensive action. Some weapons (the fiery claws or frozen ice-blades) could bypass the flame defense these angels possessed, but that would mean players were pigeon-holed into using specific weapons to combat these specific enemies. Considering how Bayonetta encouraged creativity and free-form combat, limiting a player's attack options is stifling, and contrasts sharply from that theme. We hope to see no such limiting enemies in Bayonetta 2.

No More Vehicle Sections
Bayonetta's vehicle sections pay homage to classic SEGA titles like Out Run and After Burner, and play like nothing else in the game. While these missions made for an entertaining diversion from the game's hack-and-slash mayhem, it also required players to learn an entirely new control scheme and set of rules for these specific sections. Worse still, these sections also graded players in the same way that normal fights did, so players hoping to score a high grade in their end-of-mission ranking would need to do well during these sections.

Some mini-games, like the "Angel Attack" game in-between missions, made for enough of a break between action segments to feel unique without being obnoxious. The angel attack mini game was short shooting gallery-styled section, and was completely optional. But playing it well rewarded players with points that they could use to purchase consumable items and power ups, which made it satisfying to try. If Bayonetta 2 includes unique mini-games and alternate gameplay sections, we hope these portions are optional.

Bayonetta was a highly polished action title, even with its flaws. It won't take much to improve on what is already a winning formula. We hope Platinum Games makes the changes we've suggested here.

Gabriel Zamora is as passionate about writing as he is about video games and electronics, and his fervor has led to game and tech article contributions in a variety of online publications including PCMag.com, Examiner.com, 2D-X.com, and Multiplayergames.com. When not criticizing the state of gaming or reviewing tech, Gabriel spends much of his time attending related events in New York City, catching up on his favorite written works, or trying out new cooking recipes at home. You can follow him on Twitter: @Dracozombie....
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